New resources have been allocated to the Special Criminal Court in an attempt to clear a 10-month backlog of cases.
Seven judges from the High Court, Circuit Court and District Court will be assigned to a second Special Criminal Court, which is due to start hearing cases next March.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said the second non-jury court, which will operate in Dublin like the existing court, was expected to clear the list of impending trials by the middle of next year.
The move follows a warning from the Supreme Court last July that long trial deferrals could lead to bail being granted in cases where otherwise it would be refused. While Mr McDowell said his inclination remained towards jury-based trials, the introduction of a second Special Criminal Court was necessary to expedite nine trials scheduled for hearing before the existing court between now and October.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties condemned the move, however, saying the Minister should be dismantling the non-jury court, which was set up to deal with paramilitary-linked crime, rather than strengthening it. Ms Aisling Reidy, director of the council, said the Special Criminal Court was now used for "convenience" when the State did not want to offer certain accused persons equal rights to a fair trial.
Labour Party's justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, also criticised the move, saying it was aimed at clearing "a backlog of cases that should never have been sent to the Special Criminal Court in the first place".
Mr McDowell said: "I want to ensure that persons intent on challenging the legitimacy and authority of the State who are charged with criminal offences are brought swiftly to justice. "The speedy resolution of trials before the Special Criminal Court will serve to demonstrate the State's resolve to seriously deal with any activity which is a threat to the State and its people."
He said the Government would appoint the seven judges to the new court at a later date.
While set up to deal with paramilitary-linked crime, the Special Criminal Court has increasingly tried people with no political or paramilitary connections who are accused of serious offences. Among such cases were those charged with the murder of Veronica Guerin.
Its main difference from the Central Criminal Court, whose practice and procedure it is bound to follow "as far as practicable", is that it has no jury and the three judges act as both judge and jury. A Department statement said the Minister would consider the question of their continued operation once the problem of delays had been resolved by the operation of the two courts.
"In doing so, he will take into account the recommendations of a majority of the Hederman committee in its Review of the Offences against the State Acts that the threat posed by paramilitaries alone or organised crime is sufficient to justify the retention of the Special Criminal Court."
The committee chairman, Mr Justice Hederman, was part of a minority which called for the abolition of the court, arguing that the situation post-Belfast Agreement meant it was no longer necessary to depart from best practice in a normal liberal democracy. However, the majority of the committee, including senior civil servants and members and former members of the Garda Síochána, took the view that the threat from dissident republicans and the increased threat from organised crime, justified the retention of many of the measures contained in the Offences Against the State Act. This included the continued operation of the Special Criminal Court.
The review took place after the UN Human Rights Committee found in April 2001 that sending cases to the Special Criminal Court on the basis of a certificate from the DPP without any explanation violated the rights of the accused to a jury trial. The case was taken by Joseph Kavanagh, who was convicted in 1997 of a number of offences relating to the kidnapping of the chief executive of National Irish Bank, Mr Jim Lacey.
